Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Yep, the Rangers are one lucky team. They were lucky to win last night. They were lucky to score three goals. They were lucky that Johan Hedberg and not Martin Brodeur was in goal. They are lucky that Henrik Lundqvist is their goalie. Last night they were extremely lucky that Dan Girardi didn't concuss Lundqvist with an accidental elbow to the head. If Lundqvist has a concussion and is out a while we might as well pack it in and watch the reruns of coach disagreeable's news conferences.

With the score tied 2-2 Lundqvist made three game saving saves, which triggered the winning goal by Rick Nash. The coach is right. Offense comes from defense. Especially when Lundqvist triggers the offense. Boy are we lucky.

The Rangers are now back in eighth place and we now have scored as many goals as we have given up, 70-70. Wow! We have scored the fewest goals of any team in the Eastern Conference and we are the third lowest scoring team in the NHL. Do you think maybe the Stealth GM can come up with another big goal scorer that the coach can screw up.

Speaking of screwing up the news is out that Chris Kreider is coming back to the Rangers. Coming back to what? 4-5 minutes of ice time. No power play time. Bounce around from line to line. Put him on a line with Miller and Pyatt and leave him there and give him at least 15 minutes of ice time. They sent Haley back. They should have sent Boyle.

But so far we are lucky that all Lundqvist has right now is a headache. Let's pray it doesn't get worse, because if it does hockey will be over for New York Ranger fans. We are very lucky that we have a guy named Henrik Lundqvist as our goalie.

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comments:

Yes Mike Henrik was amazing, he decided to matters into his own hands, yet again. He sees that the rangers can't score any goals even though we have some great offensive players and he has decided that he wants any chance at a playoffs he better leave us all speechless once again. I swear the poor guy has to do it all every season. Coach hates offense so much he now has Gaby on the block and that idiot Sather is out there shopping him around because hey you know we have no need for a 40 goal scorer. It's truly mind boggling, we have the fewest goals scored in the east and stealth is looking to unload scoring, move a guy who has scored the 6th most goals in the NHL since coming to the rangers. Oh yeah what do we need him for? He wants a 3rd line role player (like Prust) and a top 4 D guy for Gab. Yeah we need those things but we are going to give up our talent, our natural goal scorer for it? Dumb. Offense is needed so desperately and he's going to trade it away just because that idiot behind the bench said so, because that idiot has no idea how to coach offensive talents like Gaby who are miles above everyone else. Dumb. Offense comes from defense, that's the motto we live by now. Dumber.This is a quote from Del Zotto last night: regarding the first period, trading goals:"Whenever we get into that type of game we have to take a step back and take a breath and realize what makes us successful and that's defense first and we did a good job in the third blocking shots and Henrik standing on his head." Mission accomplished. This is our team; defense, defense and more defense. That is what they live by and ANY so called "fancy plays" is just "stupidity". Sad reality of Torts coaching style. Zzzzzzzzzzz

The stealth GM is up in TO for the GM meetings today and all I can do is think about how I don't want him to do anything stupid like trade Gaborik. I will lose my mind if he does. As JB said the 08-09 Rangers were a terrible team offensively and the fact that this years team's numbers are so similar just tells the story. I knew the stats because Jeanine was doing some research as well which was what prompted her to bring it up over the weekend. Its funny how Jeanine, Mike and JB were all thinking the same thing at the same time. Great minds, my friends! Anyway subtracting a 40 goal scorer is not the answer to our woes but subtracting the coach and adding one with an actual brain might just do the trick. This roller coaster season is draining me. One week it feels like they will never win again, and the next they win two so-so ones and suddenly they're playoff hopes are alive. We're dead - We're alive - we're dead - now we're alive again.... My heart can't take it. Such as the life of a Ranger fan.Lucky is probably a pretty good word although I am of the mind that the good get lucky and the lucky are good. This team gets "lucky" because this team is better, way better, than the results. Its ridiculous to watch the underachievement of this group night in, night out. Honestly, we have more talent than most teams in the East for sure. I'm sick of allowing the other team to dictate the game. I'm sick of coming out and having poor first periods. Never ready for the game. It was so sad to listen to Joe rave about the Rangers improved play halfway through the first as I am watching the Devils with the majority of the play. To that point we had 2 shots on goal and a couple of big hits. The Rangers were keeping pace with the Devils whose battle level was high so it made the Rangers look better than usual giving someone like Joe who is so accustomed to poor performances the impression that this was good hockey. Seriously, the Rangers only keep up with their opponents. Last night we played better but were still outplayed. The third period was just clock killing and if the Devils had any finish to their game we would be in trouble. Credit to Henrik of course the King was phenomenal! I like the big line together even though two thirds of them are struggling to put it mildly. I'm hoping that when the deadline passes that Gaby will exhale and start scoring again. Of course he was reamed by the coach midway through the game for playing "too fancy" in the neutral zone. So I'm sure that helped his psychological state a lot. Richards? I don't even know what to say about him except that he is having a terrible season and the coach has no clue how to help him. In spite of all that I still like the line. I love the Hagelin Step and Cally trio. As pundit said Kreider coming back is only good news if the coach actually uses him. Otherwise keep the kid far away from this guy and let him log some minutes in CT. So which Rangers team do we expect to see on Thursday vs Florida? I'm through trying to predict so I won't. I'm just going to wait and see.

Well news just broke that Glen Sather is not in TO for the GM meetings as I stated in my post because he is undergoing surgery for prostate cancer tomorrow. He hasn't been a good GM for us but I met the guy a couple of times and he's quite a character. I know how much he means to Mark Messier and it the news saddens me. Of course that's the extent of the news so I have no idea if he is expected to make a full recovery or if that is something we will just have to wait and see. My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

As far as the Rangers, Jeff Gorton our Assistant GM is representing the Rangers at the meetings and he will be able to make trades if need be.

If Torts is worried about his defense then put him on a line with 2 other defensemen. That would set him up with 4 defensemen, so he could roam and look for breakaways and outlet passes from the 4 D-men, who can block shots and do all the Tortorella stuff. This would let Gabby float out by the blue line all he wants looking for open ice and quick scores. Or put him out there with Hags and 3 defenders, whatever. There has to be some combination that will set Gaborik free, but not leave Tortorella's precious D lacking. I am being facetious, of course, but 97% of the NHL coaches could find a way to use Gaby if they had him. Torts being the exception.

It's like Tortorella is keeping his shiny Ferrari under a dingy blanket in the tool shed. Or if he does take it out, he wants to convoy it with a couple of banged up pickups.

My bottomline is that Lundqvist standing on his head is the only thing keeping Torts in a job.

The Ranger Pundit

I'm Mike Savino, the Ranger Pundit. I have been a NY Rangers fan since the 1937 - 1938 season. The first game I saw in person was in 1943 against the Blackhawks. My biggest disappointment was the '49-50 season and our loss to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals.